Many surgical procedures have been developed for removing foreign objects from the body, particularly in the field of implantable objects. Implantable objects, such as embolic coils and stents, may require removal from the body for many different reasons. For example, an implant could be located at an undesired and potentially dangerous location, the patient's body could reject the implant or the implant may only be temporary and is required to be removed after a prescribed period of time.
One example of a situation wherein an implant is required to be removed from a patient is when an embolic coil is located at an undesired location within the vasculature of a patient. It is becoming a more common practice to treat aneurysms, particularly intercranial aneurysms, with embolic coils that are delivered to the aneurysm site with the aid of a microcatheter deployment system. While complications associated with embolic coil treatments are rare, occasionally, an embolic coil is deployed to the wrong location within the vascular of the patient or an implanted embolic coil becomes dislodged after implantation. In either scenario, the embolic coil may be free to flow through the vasculature and become lodged or implanted at an undesired location. In addition to being implanted at an undesired location, there is a chance that the misplaced embolic coil will lead to the formation of an unwanted occlusion, such as a thrombus or blood clot, which can cause serious health problems that may be life threatening.
When an embolic coil becomes misplaced within the vasculature of a patient, a procedure is performed to remove the embolic coil from the body. Depending on the location of the misplaced embolic coil, time can become a critical factor in the amount of damage caused by the misplaced embolic coil Thus, procedures for removing misplaced embolic coils should be preformed in a quick and efficient manner.
There remains a need that is recognized and addressed according to the present invention for a retrieval device which provides for a convenient and time efficient removal of foreign objects from the body.